The Great Trickster
by Proud to be Plug
Summary: He tricked them all, and they didn't see why. He pulled the greatest trick of his existence, and no-one ever knew.


**Author's Note: So I watched The Avengers the other day, and I was assaulted by three plot bunnies for it. This is one of them.**

**For Cendi.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Avengers. All my fanfic writings are non-profit. Tis all for fun.**

* * *

The Great Trickster.

* * *

He tricked them all - or, at least, he manipulated them all, and that was just the same.

His parents (or rather, his foster-parents) he fooled, but then, they were fooling him for a longer time that he had imagined. People wondered at his supreme skill at manipulation and deceit. That made him laugh. As the mortals would say, he didn't pick it up off the road.

He fooled his brother, time and time again. Thor seemed incapable of seeing through lies. Sometimes it was like the fool went out of his way to believe Loki.

_Not that the god of mischief was complaining._

* * *

People saw him tricking and lying and they thought him an evil being, an immoral monster. They said he was an abomination, a creature of pure darkness.

They were blind.

He didn't lie because he was immoral. He lied because that was what he _was_. It confused Loki, in truth. He knew people looked at Thor and understood he was warlike and melodramatic because that was what he was, that was his identity.

_So why couldn't they understand that lies and illusions was _his_ identity?_

* * *

There were times when the tricks overwhelmed even him. To be honest—

Well, that would be a silly thing to say. He was the god of mischief. He just wasn't honest. If Loki said an honest word, Yggdrasil would probably creak in dismay.

But deep down in his mind, he had a sense of what the truth was. He had to - good lies had truth in them. If you really wanted someone to believe what you were telling them, you had to wrap it up in a truth to make it more palatable.

And that sense of truth told him that he didn't know where the lies began or ended. It made planning distinctly difficult, for he was never completely sure if his information was real or a mere fabrication.

_When you tell a lie every time you speak you start to lose track._

* * *

The other thing about lying was that the lie had to be something people wanted to believe. The first thing anyone does when they hear something they don't like is wonder if it's a lie. So you made the lie a good thing, a nice thing. You built castles in the air and lured people under them, before you dropped the edifice on their heads. You gave them what they wanted, what they needed, and they believed you, _even if they knew they shouldn't._

* * *

If there was one thing Loki hated, it was stupid questions. Questions like, "Why do you lie?" or "What's the point?"

* * *

He tried to take over the world, yes.

_It sounds dreadfully theatrical when you put it like that._

* * *

The thing was, everyone seemed to take such offence at his plans of world domination. It wasn't like he wanted to destroy the universe or kill every petty mortal in existence. All he wanted was power and respect. Was that too much to ask?

He knew he would fail. The Chitauri were weak and unskilled, and the Avengers were a formidable force, once they stopped squabbling amongst themselves. The winning wasn't the point. What mattered was that he fulfilled his nature. He was born to lie, born to cause mischief. /That/ was the point.

So when he saw the mortals looking at him in disgust, deploring his supposed terrible deeds and immoral nature, he wanted to scream at them, tell them that this was what he /was/. Expecting him to be anything else was the pinnacle of idiocy.

_You might as well expect a wolf not to hunt, or a librarian not to read._

* * *

He fooled them all.

Oh yes.

_He also fooled himself._

* * *

He said he hated his brother. Indeed, all the evidence would agree. He manipulated Thor and his father into casting out the god of thunder. He did all he could to kill Thor. And when he couldn't kill his brother physically, he tried to tear him apart emotionally.

But did he really hate his brother? Did he?

One couldn't help but note that all his attempts to kill his brother failed.

And if he hated his brother, if he really did want to destroy him utterly…

_Why did he still call Thor _brother_?_

* * *

He fooled them all. He manipulated everyone, tricked everyone.

But the greatest trick the great trickster played was the one that he himself didn't even fully see.

His greatest achievement, the person he fooled the most thoroughly. The one whom he hoodwinked completely.

The greatest trick he ever played…

_Was the one he played on himself._


End file.
